Friday, January 25, 2013

In the second half of the 20th century, there was a period of steadily increasing discoveries in a realm which is still heretofore largely unexplored: the deep ocean. It is a realm that covers the earth, yet may as well be as distant as the moon. With pressures that would crush a man flat in seconds, it is surprising that this environment is actually host to an astounding amount of life. Yet, as is a common figure to bring up, only about 2% of it has actually been explored. What in the world does this have to do with the cinema?

Wednesday, January 23, 2013

Out of all the movies in the long-running, wildly successful James Bond franchise, the most unappreciated entry has got to be Moonraker. This film, made during the swell of space madness that followed Star Wars, quite literally took 007 to outlandish new heights. An investigation into the disappearance of the Moonraker space shuttle leads Bond into outer space, complete with disco-accented laser battles, unbelievable Ken Adam sci-fi sets, and some of the rockin'est special effects ever put to film.

For this reason, among others, many have looked down on the movie, calling it silly, stupid, terrible, and, depending on who you ask, the worst Bond film of them all. Forgetting for a moment that you'd have to be a pretty Grinchy individual to not enjoy Moonraker's bombastic ridiculousness (and that anyone who said Moonraker is the worst Bond film could not have seen Die Another Day), it's unfortunate that such immediate and total dismissal has kept people from seeing the movie's importance to the Bond canon overall. The movie fits into and culminates an arc that had been percolating since Dr. No, for better or worse.

Friday, January 18, 2013

In this action-packed coverage of KotoriCon in Gloucester County, New Jersey, the Cinemologists have their hands full interviewing cosplayers, eating Pocky, and getting depressed. Special thanks to the staff and cosplayers of KotoriCon for being so cooperative and helpful during the filming of this video!

Monday, January 14, 2013

I've been seized by the desire to speak candidly on a subject that's gotten some attention in the press lately. Apparently several actors have been referred to as "brave", most recently at the Golden Globes. There it seems that by simply doing a good performance or something which has social relevance they are considered brave. Well to be frank, I couldn't disagree more. Its not that "brave" to take a role which might be slightly controversial or political, because its not as if these people have their careers to worry about from this. Also, the ideologies of the movies they star in usually have the general consensus in Hollywood, so the entire idea of calling them brave is a little peculiar to me. You know who real brave actors were?